FAIRMONT, W.Va. -- In the final game of the Joe Retton Classic, Fairmont State men's basketball pulled away late to pick up a 71-52 win over the visitors from Salem University on Sunday evening.

Isaiah Sanders had another 20-point night to pace the Fighting Falcons as Sanders was 7-15 from the floor and hauled in a double-double with 12 rebounds. Zyon Dobbs followed with 13 points on the night with Seth Younkin and Cole VonHandorf rounding out the Falcon scorers in double-digits with 12 and 11 respectively.

Younkin and Sanders started the scoring for Fairmont State in the first half with Sanders stretching the lead to 7-2 off a three-pointer at the 18:27 mark. In the battle of former WVIAC rivals, Salem gained the lead on a three-pointer from Tobias Howard Jr. with 10:37 left to play in the first half with the Tigers up 17-15. Howard scored on the next offensive possession for Salem to increase the lead to five off another three. The Falcons quickly knotted the score at 20 as Sanders collected a three of his own and two sides traded baskets and the lead a couple of times before Fairmont State regained the lead and went into the break with the lead at 34-29.

In the start of the second half, Fairmont State went on a 9-0 run before Salem collected a basket to stop the scoring drought for the Tigers with the 45-34 score in favor of the Falcons.

The Falcons cruised the rest of the second half as Fairmont State did not allow Salem to cut the lead inside 10 points and took the final by a score of 71-52 inside Joe Retton Arena.

The Maroon and White shot 37.5 % (24-64) from the floor and were 19-20 from the free-throw line. The Falcons held the advantage in points in the paint (32-14) and points off turnovers (14-5) over Salem on Sunday evening.

The Fighting Falcons (2-0, 0-0 MEC) return to action on Thursday, November 18th in a road contest at California (PA) (2-0, 0-0 PSAC) in a 7:30 p.m. tip.